A video clip showing a mosque is being shared on social media with captions falsely claiming that it's an ancient Hindu temple in Kerala that was taken over by Muslims and converted into a mosque.
BOOM found that the video shows a mosque in Mangalore, and not a temple in Kerala. We also spoke to the person who manages the Instagram handle where the video was first uploaded and confirmed the same.
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The video, a montage, shows clips from what looks like a place of worship. People can be seen in the space wearing skullcaps suggesting it might be a mosque.
A Hindi caption with the video shared on Twitter translates to 'Muslims built a mosque by illegally occupying an ancient Hindu temple in Kerala. The Left Communist government of Kerala is not ready to take any action despite the opposition by Hindu society'.
(Hindi: केरल में अति प्राचीन हिंदू मंदिर पर अवैद्य कब्ज़ा करके मुसलमानो ने बनाई मस्जिद ... हिंदू समाज के विरोध के बावजूद केरल की वामपंथी कम्यूनिस्ट सरकार कोई भी कारवाई करने के लिए तैयार नहीं )
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The video has been shared on Facebook with similar claim.
View post here.
Fact Check
BOOM watched the video carefully. Few seconds into the video, we saw a watermark of TSOI and Thousand Shades of India on the top left corner of the clip.
Taking cue, we looked for Thousand Shades of India and found their social media handles on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The About section of TSOI's YouTube page reads 'At TSOI, we celebrate India's diversity in life and livelihood, cultures and traditions, heritage and history, art and craft through our stories and documentaries!'.
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BOOM went through all the social media handles of TSOI and found the same video uploaded on its Instagram page on December 20, 2021.
A long caption with the video reads 'A glimpse into the oldest mosque of Karnataka and the third oldest in India! Mangalore's Bunder area houses one of India's oldest Muslim communities, their origin dating back to almost 1,400 years. A testimony to their history, going back 14 centuries, is their ancient place of worship, Zeenat Baksh Masjid, renovated and renamed by Tipu Sultan in the 18th century. Serene, unique in its architectural style and profusely intricate in its woodworks, Zeenat Baksh is a calming oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of this southern port city'.
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We contacted Shafaat Shahbandari, founder-editor of the Thousand Shades of India to get more information on the video. Shafaat told BOOM that the video was recorded in 2021 in Mangalore. "We had shot the video as a reel so it's present only on our Instagram handle. The video shows Masjid Zeenat Baksh. We shoot videos of temples and churches too for our stories," Shafaat said.
Masjid Zeenat Baksh, Mangalore
BOOM did a keyword search with Masjid Zeenat Baksh and found several blogposts and news reports about the mosque.
A report published in The Hindu on May 21, 2016 quotes then Secretary of Central Muslim Committee Hanif Ali saying that Masjid Zeenat Baksh is perhaps the only mosque in the state entirely made of wood.
The visuals from the video corroborate this statement.
According to a blogpost by the Karnataka Tourism department, the mosque located in the Bunder area of Mangalore portrays the life stories of Prophet Mohammad. The blogpost says the mosque is believed to have been constructed in 644 AD by Arab traders and it was renovated by Tipu Sultan in the 17th century and named after his daughter Zeenat Baksh.
Additionally, BOOM looked for news reports about a Hindu temple being taken over by Muslims in Kerala but found none.